Matthew 18:10-14 The Message
"Watch that you don't treat a single one of these childlike believers arrogantly.
You realize, don't you, that their personal angels are constantly in touch with my Father in heaven?
"Look at it this way. If someone has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders off, doesn't he leave the ninety-nine and go after the one?
And if he finds it, doesn't he make far more over it than over the ninety-nine who stay put? Your Father in heaven feels the same way.
He doesn't want to lose even one of these simple believers.
"Arrogance: an attitude of superiority, manifested in an overbearing manner, or in presumptuous claims or assumptions."
Jesus warns us against treating others, especially new believers, with arrogance.
I'd love to say that Christians are never guilty of "an attitude of superiority," but of course I'd be lying.
It's hard when you believe so strongly that you know the truth. It's hard when you're convinced of what Jesus Christ has meant in your own life, and what his life can mean for others.
But I never fail to be amazed at how people (including me sometimes) can have an attitude of "I got mine, good luck getting yours."
That is arrogant. There is no humility in that. That is not Jesus.
He says that we care about everybody. We do it because we have a shared identity as children of God.
Don't gloss over that.
The person, or the group of people, or (you fill in the blank of your personal prejudice, whatever it may be), are as equally loved by God as you are.
Let that settle.
God loves everybody. That's a period. Period.
We're all lucky to be found. Lucky to receive his great love. Lucky to love one another.
All really is gift.
That's the nature of our shepherd, and he promises that with practice it can be our nature too.
Grace & Peace,
Adam
1 comment:
Nice Post.
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